


Somnambulism

by MadJJ



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: (mentions of Cannibalism only), Battle of Blackwater, Cannibalism, Canon Divergence - The Battle of the Blackwater, Choose Your Own Adventure, F/M, Joffrey Baratheon is His Own Warning, Joffrey is his own warning, SanSan Secret Santa, SanSan Secret Santa 2018, Violence, suicidal behavior
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-30 02:54:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 8,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17215664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadJJ/pseuds/MadJJ
Summary: In King's Landing where only lies can be found in false appearances, Sansa finds an unexpected truth in her dreams. She also finds the only person that can help her out of the lions' den.A Choose Your Own Adventure story (guide to the solutions; the link to the game in the author's note).





	1. The Dream Family

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SassyEggs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SassyEggs/gifts).



> PLEASE READ
> 
> Hello everyone! This is my gift to SassyEggs in the 2018 Sansan Secret Santa Challenge! Or, rather, this is the guide to my gift, since I made a "Choose your own adventure" game that you can find here : http://philome.la/MadJJ7/somnambulism  
> (it is recommended to play it in Google Chrome rather than, say, Firefox)
> 
> The game was made with Twine, which has allowed me to directly include links in the story and make a few 'mini-games', as I call them, which rely on the player's rapidity and/or judgement.
> 
> Since the game contains 6 endings in addition to the True Ending, as well as 7 achievements, it can be complex to complete the whole thing. This guide is here to help you do just that! If you're interested in playing the game then please, follow the link and have fun on your first run! However, if you encounter some difficulties, you'll (normally) find the solutions in the notes at the end of the chapters I'll post here (and there's no shame in not getting the True Ending on the first run, I made it tricky on purpose!)
> 
> If you have no interest whatsoever in playing... It's fine! You still get to read the story here if you want! Be aware that some aspects might seem strange as they were first intended for a slightly different media.
> 
> So, with that said, I'll leave you be with this guide and the game. Don't hesitate to ask me questions in the comments, tell me about the endings you found and the achievements you got!
> 
> (ps: find me also on tumblr @mad-j-j)

Sansa opened her eyes.

She was in a wide field of long grass, gently undulating with the wind.

She shuddered. This place... This place was not...

"Sansa!"

She looked up, and was surprised by the sight of her mother. She was wearing a long summer dress, blue, like in the colors of her sigils.

"Mother?"

"You'll be late Sansa," her mother ignored her question. "Come, follow me!"

Her mother walked away, suddenly disappearing in a thick forest of white trunk trees.

"Mother! Wait!" Sansa called as she followed her.

The greenery seemed to form a wall, preventing her from advancing, and her hands felt like there were hitting bricks. Her feet didn't fare much better, naked against the cold, hard ground.

Sansa pushed forward, desperate to reach her mother. She had been so close!

Sansa wanted her to brush her hair, to sing to her softly, to promise her that everything would be all right and put her to bed, as she did when Sansa was younger and smaller.

Sansa suddenly froze, thinking that she had heard something.

A laugh.

A child was laughing, carefree, innocent, as she had been once.

That was before -

No, she didn't want to think about that now.

The laugh came from the same direction that the one her mother had followed before she had disappeared.

Sansa pushed one last branch aside... And revealed another meadow, this one covered in beautiful flowers. A few deer were peacefully resting under the shadow of a large pine, birds flew freely over her head, and the silhouette of Winterfell was rising over the horizon, observing the scene with its majestic body of stone.

This was nothing though, compared to the sight of her family - all of her family, reunited there.

Rickon, Bran, Arya, Robb, and even Jon, chasing after each other as children, so much younger than they really were. Mother and Father sat on a blanket laid over the ground. The direwolf pups were either running after the children or resting near Sansa's parents. Next to her mother, she saw Lady, who raised her head upon seeing her and let out a small whimper, as if begging her to join them.

"Sansa, come!" called Arya, none of the resentment Sansa had grown used to hear in her sister's voice present. "Come on, don't tell me you are afraid of a little water?"

Sansa looked down. At her feet, there was a small trickle of water, but as she took a step closer... The water suddenly came in more rapidly, and the trickle became larger and larger until it was too much for her to go over in a single step.

Sansa looked up again. They were still there, waiting for her. And she wanted to join them, she wanted to forget everything that had been happening since they left Winterfell, she wanted to go and play with them in a way she had never before, preferring to isolate herself in this image of the perfect little lady...

Sansa took a step back, preparing to run to propulse herself.

"I'm coming!" she said, starting to smile.

A small part of her couldn't believe that it could be so simple, but she ignored it. She deserved to be happy, right?

She wanted to be happy.

"L...le B...d!"

She would be happy.

"L...ttle Bi...d!"

What?

Sansa felt something grab onto her...

 

* * *

 

 

Sansa opened her eyes.

She stared down, and an undignified yelp escaped her.

A  
l  
l

t  
h  
e

w  
a  
y

d  
o  
w  
n,

  
she saw a bottom of darkness, and her naked feet at the edge of a large, red brick wall. She was feeling so cold, all of the sudden, and dizzy as her weight seemed to shift forward -

There was heat around her waist - hands! Large hands she could barely see in the dark of the night.

"Have you lost your mind?" asked a voice as sharp as steel.

The hands pulled her back, and she found herself with her naked feet on the high wall, safe behind the bricks she had previously been standing on.

"What has gotten into you?"

Sansa looked up, eyes large with fear and confusion, and saw the Hound, his face unmistakable despite the darkness, only a few inches away from her.

"What were you doing?"

He had put his hands on her arms, both gripping her as if to keep her grounded and shaking her. It would have hurt, had she not been so cold.

She wasn't wearing anything aside her nightdress, the flimsy garment not enough to protect her from the aggressive wind.

"I-I w-was dreaming," Sansa ignored whether her stuttering was induced by the cold or the fear that was still clutching at her heart. "I don't unders-stand what... Where am I?"

"Did you think jumping off the wall would be the only way to escape your cage?"

He sounded angrier than ever, his fingers digging painfully into her arms. The numbness was slowly fading away, replaced by his bruising grip.

"N-no! No! I didn't... I don't know what I am doing here!" she protested, shaking her head both to deny his accusations and try to regain her memories. "I don't remember - what happenned?"

She blinked, trying to see something in the darkness. There were torches further down the path, hooked to a barrack. They gleamed brightly but were too far away. Depsite this, she could make out the structure of the Hound's face.

Hidden by the night, the half that had been burned was invisible. For a second, she had a glimpse of what he could have looked like if his brother hadn't brutally shoved his face in the coals. Not handsome, not ugly either, but still so angry. It almost scared her more, this face she didn't know and that stared at her with so much contained pain ready to lash out.

The Hound closed his eyes, sighing, and his grip became a little less painful.

"What is the last thing your remember?"

The last thing she remembered?

"I was... In my room. I went to sleep. And then I dreamed..."

She cut herself off, her gaze lingering towards the edge.

She would have jumped. Had he not been there, she would have died, trying to reach for a dream that could never be.

Her father was dead, and for all she knew, Arya was as well. Bran would never run again, Jon had gone to the wall, Lady was dead too...

Her eyes filled with tears. She had wanted this dream to be real. She had wanted it so much!

"I don't know how I ended up here!" she finished. "I... You saved my life."

The words 'Thank you' burned her lips, but she remembered how much he hated her courtesies, and saw the look on his face. There was anger still, and something else she couldn't read.

She didn't say anything more.

"Whatever the hell happened, you need to get back to your cage," he said, straightenning up and letting go of one of her arms. He tugged on the other to bring her forward.

Sansa tried to bring herself to thank him, her confusion adding to her shame and fear as they made their way to her rooms. She shivered again, bringing her hands to her arms.

Sansa eyed the Hound from the corner of her eye. The last time they had seen each other, she had been thanking him for saving her life during the Riot, and he had been telling her how useless the endeavor had been. He seemed to make a habit out of saving her life as of late.

Finally they reached the door, which he held open for her.

"Lock it tight, and make sure that I don't see you outside again. You'll be lucky if no one saw us and Joffrey doesn't hear about this."

Sansa nodded, pinching her lips as the words were pushed down her throat.

She held the door, lingering at the entrance of her room, then stared at his back as he was leaving.

"Thank you," she said, although her voice was so faint he probably didn't hear her.

She looked down, then got inside.

She locked the door just as he had ordered her, then laid on her bed, nervous and still cold.

Sansa closed her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right! Not much to add in regard of the game: none of the decisions so far will affect the ending you get. Some of the choices will get you a slightly different text. If you are trying to get all the achievements, then you'll need to say 'Thank you', as it is one of the (numerous) requirements of getting "Lady's Armor". Choosing to thank Sandor or not will also influence some of the dialogs much later in the game.


	2. Squeaks

Sansa opened her eyes.

She was in a room without windows. A single door, tall and menacing, rose above her. There was a golden lock, but as she tried to push it, she got stuck.

She needed to get out of this room.

But how?

She needed to find the key.

A squeak, then another.

The rats had stolen the key!

Sansa looked around, trying to find it.

She was surrounded by the sounds.

Sansa managed to catch one of the rats with her hands.

She should have been disgusted, shouldn't she? Somehow, she didn't care.

The rat wriggled in her grasp, showing her his belly against which his little paws held the golden key.

Sansa took the key from its grasp and released it.

It turned its head towards her.

"Dreamwalker, keep your name safe, for signing it away would mean the end of your days."

Sansa turned towards the door, key in hand. She was finally going to leave here.

"M'Lady, ... you do... up?"

All she had to do was to use the key -

A hand laid on Sansa's shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, this mini-game can get tricky. You'll need to click on one of the squeaks to access the rest of the story.
> 
> It works in a 20 seconds loop, and every second the game checks if one of the links appears or not. Each link appears at one set time (at the third second mark, the fifth, etc.). If you can't be fast enough to reach one of them, take notes of the placement of one squeak, then wait until it reappears 20 seconds later.
> 
> I've been told it's near impossible on mobile and... Yeah, I didn't think it would be played on mobile so I didn't test it beforehand. You'll basically have to spam your screen and tap it obsessively until it accepts it, because the game doesn't register your clicks well (I won't go into detail as to why unless you want the technicals). Sorry ^^'
> 
> There are two achievements you can get by playing this game: "Rat Queen", if you manage to get past this in under 20 seconds, and "Sleepy Rat", which is a dishonorable achievement that you get if it takes you more than a minute to get past this mini-game (... Which is shorter than what I would make it now that I see how difficult it is for people who haven't played it fifty times in a row to test it).


	3. Shae

Sansa opened her eyes.

The hand on her shoulder belonged to Shae, her handmaiden.

"Is everything all right, m'Lady? You looked..."

Shae didn't finish her sentence, uncertain. Sansa blinked several time, realising that she was standing in the middle of her room.

It had happenned again. She had gotten off her bed in the middle of her sleep! It was small comfort to know that this time, at least, she hadn't left her room.

"Y-yes, I'm fine," Sansa lied, clearing her thoat.

"Should I help you dress and do your hair?" asked Shae after an awkward pause.

"Yes! Absolutely..."

Sansa tried to make sense of her confused memories while Shae was giving her a hand. This was all so strange. Had she really been outside during the night? Yes, the memory of the void calling to her when she was about to fall of the edge was too vivid to be false.

And to think if the Hound hadn't been there... And the way she was dressed while she was standing on that wall too!

What strange dreams she had had. Her family, she could understand, but...

"... of some rats, I heard."

"Beg your pardon?" Sansa startled, only realising now that Shae had been speaking to her.

"I was simply saying that I heard there would be rats coming to the court today. From Flea Bottom. That's what everyone is calling them."

"Oh."

Shae paused in her movements, and Sansa felt the brush halt mid-way through her hair.

"Are you sure you are well, M'Lady? Anything I could do to help?"

"I could use some advice..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd advice you listen to Shae and don't yell at her, since behaving that way would send you right to Ending 1 (or, as I've seen it affectionnally named, "The Looney Bin"). On the other hand, for the Achievements Seekers, picking the option "This is none of your business!", then finding the link that will allow you to go back on your decision in the text that follows will unlock the achievement "Time traveller" (which you can also get later in the game).


	4. Dresses

"I guess I could use... Some advice," Sansa hesitated.

She knew she couldn't fully trust anyone in this place, but this was not a matter of loyalty or conflincting feelings about the king. In fact, it had nothing to do with politics.

She just had to be prudent not to reveal too much about her current state of mind.

"We can all use a bit of advice from time to time," Shae hummed, starting to brush her hair once more.

Shae had a tendency to border on inappropriate, but she wasn't mean to Sansa, nor did she seem to treat her with disdain as other servants had done before. This shred of dignity Shae had allowed Sansa to maintain whas what had initially been so endearing, to the point where Sansa could almost risk at calling her a friend. She was the closest woman in the keep to be called that at any rate.

"How can you tell the difference between a dream and reality?" Sansa asked, hoping she was vague enough.

Surely her handmaiden couldn't imagine all that she had been through the night before with such an innocuous question?

"Per example, when you're in a dream, you're only conscious of it once you wake up, are you not?"

Shae's movements slowed as she put down the brush to begin braiding Sansa's hair.

"Having trouble while you sleep?" Shae asked. "Maybe seeing memories in them?"

Sansa shifted uncomfortably. That wasn't what was happening to her, but it sounded awful when she remembered some of the things that had happened to her lately...

"N-not really..."

"It's fine," Shae reassured her. "I have those too sometimes."

Silence settled for a moment, and Sansa thought Shae must have forgotten her initial question.

Sansa remained silent, patiently waiting for Shae to react.

Finally, she spoke, shaking herself out of her deep thoughts:

"A man I - A man once told me he had trained himself to remain lucid during his dreams. He had done that so that he could always remain in control and manage to do things he never could have in reality. Like flying, for example."

Sansa thoughts that she'd rather never dream of flying if doing so put her at risk of flinging herself off the fortifications of a castel.

"He frequently asked himself if he was awake during the day, to the point that it became a reflex."

"But how did he know the answer to that question?"

Shae huffed a laugh.

"Are all your dreams as menial as getting your hair brushed, like right now?"

Sansa thought of green meadows and hundred squeakings of rats.

"I guess not..."

"Then there you have your answer."

"Thank you Shae," Sansa turned to smile at her handmaiden.

"You'll thank me once I am done with your hair. I don't know what you've been doing tonight but I'm far from finishing styling it."

Sansa blushed deeply and turned around.

Sansa knew better than to try and justify herself. She had not yet mastered the art of telling lies, and remaining silent was preferrable when no real accusation was even formulated.

"I think this should be good," Shae eventually declared, inviting her to look in the mirror.

Shae's technic might have not been the best at first, but she had definitely improved. Sansa's hair was perfectly styled in the southern fashion now.

And it's not as if Sansa could pretend she could do half as well by herself, not when her finger eventually led her back to a style that would be considered more appropriate for other political leanings.

Am I dreaming? wondered Sansa distractly to herself. No, she was still wide awake.

When presented with a choice of dresses for the day, Sansa had to pick bewteen only two. All the others were still to be washed or dried, and she hadn't had new clothes in a while.

The first dress was the more comfortable one, but with its blue color, it almost tended to grey, which, given her current position, may not have been a great choice.

The second dress was in a reddish rose. The issue with it was that Sansa had recently grown incredibly uncomfortable wearing it; she would rapidly become breathless at the first effort because it constricted her torso.

Sansa ended up picking the blue dress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dress color you chose does not affect the ending. It does affect the background color for some passages, and a bit of dialog with Joffrey later on. Chosing a different dress color on a second playthrough will also get you the achievement "Fashion victim".
> 
> From this point on though, you'll want to click on the link "Am I dreaming?" at the top of every passage as often as you can. The game will check how many times the question has been asked, and if you clicked the link more than four times, you'll be allowed to get another ending than n° 1 and 2.


	5. Am I dreaming?

Am I dreaming? wondered Sansa distractly to herself. No, she was still wide awake.

Once Sansa had chosen her dress and quickly broken her fast, she needed to join the court. The perspective was not a happy one. She'd have to face Joffrey - King Joffrey, and Queen Cersei would probably be there as well. She'd have to force a smile and pretend she was content with being there, the prize of the crown; the symbol of their ennemies' ultimate defeat.

The only attempts at rebellion she could make were almost pitiful, she thought. The color of her dress, a snide remark she kept in her thoughts...

The only escape she had was in her sleep, and it seemed escaping had gone to another level all together lately.

The day began, simply enough, with a hearing.

Then another.

Saying that those hearing could be a bore was an understatement, given that Joffrey put little to no thoughts into what his answers were, gleefully ignored wise advices, and ended up receiving the same people over and over as his previous decisions didn't y ield any satisfactory results.

This didn't happen everyday - the Seven Kingdoms would have crumbled if there had been so much leeway - but today seemed to be a day for repetitions as not one but two...

No, three...

Make that four...

Four different lords of lesser, neighbouring houses came in to complain about the same matter. Instead of having them come in at the same time and avoid wasting time, they all laid their story for the whole Court to listen to, repeating pointless details that made Sansa slowly drowse off...

She shook her head, hoping to keep herself awake.

Am I dreaming? wondered Sansa distractly to herself. No, she was still wide awake.

She just needed to focus.

Sansa let her mind wander, decided that she'd better, to stay awake, avoid letting the dullness of today's court lull her into sleep.

The first dream she had had that night was something of a wish fulfillement. She wanted her family back, and there she had seen it.

Yet, Arya had called to her, to go over the water.

To jump into the void.

So, the dreams were dangerous, but did that dream mean that... Whatever was causing those dreams wanted to hurt her? She hoped not. There were alread so many dangers to be wary of in King's Landing, and the Hound wouldn't be there every time to prevent her from falling to her death. Or get her out of a tricky situation when she was caught in a lie. Or give her advice to face Joffrey. Or...

Sansa, suddenly feeling her cheeks grow hot, realized that the subject might be keeping her too awake.

Am I dreaming? wondered Sansa distractly to herself. No, she was still wide awake.

The second dream she had had that night was more of a... Warning, maybe? She couldn't remember the words of the Rat King exactly, but she did remember something ominous her dream-self had willfully ignored.

And there was the matter of what Shae had said that morning too. Could it be a simple coincidence? For her to speak of rats, right after Sansa had dreamed of them?

Am I dreaming? wondered Sansa distractly to herself. No, she was still wide awake.

Sansa returned her attention to the court session. Things were finally wrapping up. Maybe she could go to the godswoods, and pray to help her find some peace of mind -

"Lady Sansa."

Sansa turned around, then found herself face to face with Petyr Baelish.

"My Lady," he repeated with a smile and a dart of forked tongue. "Would you follow me?"

Am I dreaming? wondered Sansa distractly to herself.

Yes, she was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember to ask yourself the question repeatedly by clicking on the link! There are numerous occasions to do so, until you reach the point where Sansa actually falls asleep and clicking on the link will send you to another passage where you'll be safe from ending 1.


	6. The Quill

She was dreaming, Sansa realized. She stared at the strange features the man before her had suddenly taken. This was... Strange, unsettling even, but she was strangely calm, now that she had realized this was a dream.

Reality was suddenly distorted, but her actions in dreams... They seemed to have consequences, as if her body didn't understand she was partially unconscious.

She needed to wake up. A river in the... 'dream world' could be a cliff in reality, she couldn't be sure where her steps were leading her, she couldn't even trust her own words. Would she even manage to speak if she tried?

Sansa tried to wake up, but she didn't know how to. Panic slowly rose inside her chest.

Simply willing it wasn't enough!

She breathed deeply. Petyr Baelish was still waiting for her answer, as if nothing was amiss.

Until she found a solution, maybe she should just play along?

"Well, dear?"

His words dripped with sticky honey.

Sansa followed him. There was someting ominous, a dark aura around him. Sansa was almost scared as they walked...

And so Sansa followed, through a maze of walls and tapestries.

She followed up and down stairs that lead through rooms of mirrors of colors unknown.

She followed until she couldn't tell where she had started, and where she would end.

His clawed hands appeared in front of her, clad in shadows pouring out of his skin viscously.

This is a dream, Sansa thought to herself.

His words buzzed through her ears, but she couldn't understand them. Her eyes traced the quill in his hand, the pure grey of the feather clogged by his sliminess.

This is a dream, Sansa repeated to herself, hoping this would be enough to wake herself up.

"Sign..." was the only word she could make out of it.

This is a dream, she thought, but she also knew every action could have consequences...

No! The Rat King had warned her, hadn't he?

"Dreamwalker, keep your name safe, for signing it away would mean the end of your days."

She pushed back, and a table fell, ink poured on the floor.

She felt herself drowning in it...

But this was just a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Signing will get you to ending n°2. The savepoints system allows you not to start over since the beginning of the game, but in this case it will bring you back to the point where Shae gives you her advice. In that case, you'll need to ask yourself the question AGAIN repeatedly, because the game will have forgotten the number of times you had already asked it.


	7. Pet the dog

Sansa clung to the thought. She was fine, she was merely dreaming.

The thought grounded her. She was out of the darkness. This was still a dream but... She didn't think she was in danger as of now.

She did think she needed to wake up, and soon.

She closed her eyes, and focused.

She thought, long and hard, closing her eyes.

"Wake up."

Sansa opened her eyes.

She was still dreaming. She knew because, she had been asking herself the question enough to distinguish between being awake and being asleep.

There was a dog in front of her though.

Sanse raised her hand to pet him. The dog stood tall over her. She reached out for his cheek, in a transe-like state.

"Wh...  hel.... think.... doing?"

Sansa felt a shudder run through her body.

Sansa opened her eyes.

She woke up.

The feeling of elation lasted a second before she realised who she was standing in front of.

The Hound was staring at her, with a gaze that changed her euphoria to embarrassement.

Her hand was still hovering, dangerously close to his face. She brought it down as fast as she could, her cheeks turning a deep red.

"What exactly are you doing?" he asked, without the courtesy of ignoring her behavior.

No, he would always face things head on, even at the expense of her embarrassement.

"I was dreaming."

Sansa knew better than to lie to him. And he had already seen her the night before, when she had been roaming around, risking her life on the parapet walls.

"Dreaming? In the middle of the day? With your eyes open?"

Sansa carefully tucked in a corner of her mind that her eyes had been open. This was yet another piece of information to think about. And she had a lot of thinking to do on her current situation.

"Y-yes. I don't know how to wake up," she admitted.

There was a slight desperation in her voice, as she remembered the call of the void beneath her feet, the bite of the wind and the warm hands without which she wouldn't have been safe.

He was looking at her like she was a peculiar little thing. Maybe the situation was too strange for him to give her his usual glare full of rage.

"Have you tried pinching yourself?"

Sansa's cheeks heated up again. She hadn't thought of it, so deep in slumber the possibility hadn't even appeared in her mind. She could as well try it the next time...

"Maybe I should see a maester," Sansa thought out loud.

As much as the idea repulsed her, as much as she didn't trust anyone in here - except the man who had saved her life and was now standing in front of her - she didn't know what to do.

"No."

The word was definitive, as sharp as an axe splitting wood in two.

"Don't go to maester Pycelle, or anyone about this. They would take advantage of your weaknesses."

 _You wouldn't_ , Sansa thought. Because he hadn't. He had had a lot of time to go speak to Joffrey, or anyone, about this, yet no one had mentionned it to her. He was keeping her secret.

The intensity of his gaze made her uncomfortable.

"I should go," said Sansa, somewhat embarrassed at the whole conversation they just had. "Goodbye -"

"Not so quickly!" he grabbed her by the arm before she could get far.

His grasp was much softer than the night before. The thought was distracting for an instant.

"I was looking for you. King Joffrey requested your presence."

The flutter in Sansa's heart at the touch quickly turned to dread, digging its sharp nails in her core and making her colder than any winter could.

She quickly recovered and put on her mask of courtesies.

"I am pleased that his Majesty would still choose to spend time with me," she smiled.

Those lies, the fake smiles and courtesies, they came easier than the others.

"No need with me, girl."

It would surprise Sansa if the Hound was ever convinced by her act though.

" Follow me then..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This whole conversation can play out as you please, each option prompting different dialogs, so have fun ^^
> 
> For the Achievements seekers: Pet the Dog! First, because it's more fun, second because it unlocks the Achievement (oh-so-cleverly) named "Pet the Dog!".
> 
> Bidding Sandor goodbye is another requierement for the achievement "Lady's Armor".


	8. Yes, your Majesty

They walked, her first, with him following. She thought it felt strange, when they ought to walk side by side and talk. About what, she couldn't be sure.

Maybe she would have wanted to tell him about those strange visions in her dreams? Have him help her understand what she had seen in them?

This was not the time to reflect on that though, not as she approached Joffrey.

She had expected that they would find him in the gardens, maybe martyrizing a low-born knight or ignoring someone from his counsil, but there was no one aside from two men of his royal guards.

"Lady Sansa," he greeted her with a joyous smile that contained an evil that always unsettled her.

Not for the first time, she wondered how she could have missed it in the past. That mean gleam in his eyes that twisted his face into that graceless sneer.

"I had some guests I wanted you to meet."

"That would be my pleasure, your majesty."

Joffrey looked down on her dress.

"Interesting choice," he commented, his sneer getting worse.

Sansa knew she probably shouldn't have been enjoying his displeasure when it probably meant something bad for her, but his foul mood was something that was too hard not to rejoice about.

He gestured towards a door next to him, one with a rusty yellow lock.

"Just wait here and they'll be there in a few minutes."

Sansa did not want to go in.

"Yes, your Majesty," said Sansa with a cursty, knowing she could not refuse him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mouthing off and refusing to answer Joffrey will disqualify you for the Achievement "Lady's Armor". However, if you run away from him, you'll unlock ending 3, one where Sansa gets freedom! ... At the price of her life.
> 
> As long as you don't run away from Joffrey though, you can explore all the dialog options and still get the True ending.


	9. Rats

"Yes, your Majesty," said Sansa with a cursty, knowing she could not refuse him.

Something in her was screaming not to go, but she didn't have much of a choice.

She resisted the need to look back. She would not see any pity in the tyrant's eyes, or in his guard's, and the Hound could not do anything but stare as well.

The door closed behind her, louder than she thought it should have been.

Sansa was in the dark.

The room wasn't completely without light. There was a lamp on a table, which threw tall shadows on the walls.

Sansa waited. And waited. Then she waited some more.

And finally, the door cracked open, sending blinding light inside.

"He said there would be food!"

The voice echoed in the small room, hurling itself with savagery at the dance of the flame of the lamp.

Three long figures, lanky and appearing almost mangled in their otherness entered the room. Sansa caught a gleam of gold which hung from the neck of the man who had spoken.

"She looks like food," suggested the man at his right.

One of his eyes was veiled, the other jumped around, never fixing itself at one specific point.

The third man who hadn't spoken yet grunted.

They seemed more like animals.

Sansa had no doubt they really mean her harm - and what else could she expect from Joffrey?

Sansa remembered what Shae had said that morning.

_"I was simply saying that I heard there would be rats coming to the court today. From Flea Bottom. That's what everyone is calling them."_

She also remembered the riot that had happenned just a week before, and how the blood that had been shed could have just as easily been drunk by the possessed mob. She had barely gotten out of there then, her life only saved thanks to the Hound.

There was no one else now though, and no issue...

No issue, except for the door. Maybe if she acted quickly enough -

The man who had spoken first had a golden key around his neck, she realised as the door closed and the sound mecanism locking up resounded in the room. Someone had closed it from outside, but the key she saw around his neck...

She just needed a distraction, and then be quick. Extremely quick.

Now was her chance.

* * *

 

Sansa didn't know what had possessed her, but she had somehow managed to rip the key off the man's neck all the while distracting him with the lamp she had thrown in his face, then to slip past him and get to the door.

Her hands were trembling as she tried to put the key in the lock, until a surreal calmness washed over her. She remembered how she had felt as she had picked up the rat in her dream, and had headed towards the door.

It was the same kind of tranquility of mind that stopped her tremblings to change her movement into a purposeful dance.

The golden key was in the lock.

She turned it twice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can't get a bad ending by failing at escaping here, as it is a form of training for another mini-game later on. Each of your decision is timed when you are offered a choice of link with no other text. When you see the options "grabbed the key" and "threw the lamp", it doesn't matter which you pick first, as long as you click both of them in under 5 seconds each. When you get the four options however, you'll need to pick the third one, still under 5 seconds (the other options are panicked reactions that will make you fail your escape).
> 
> Failing doesn't change anything aside from the dialogs that follow, so don't sweat it! There isn't even an achievement to win here (because I forgot to add one, oops).


	10. Safe

The lock clicked and Sansa pushed the door, only to realise it was being pulled at the same time. She stumbled forward with the force, and brought up her hands, and they met with something hard.

Sansa had closed her eyes in her surprise, expecting to fall flat on the floor. Once she opened them, she saw a broad chest. Well, there was a broad chest underneath this chest plate, which was enough to make her blush as her fingers sprawled on it. Her blush only deepened once she looked up to see the Hound. He seemed just as surprised to see she had been pushing the door as she had been suprised to find him pulling on it.

"See, dog, no need to worry, she didn't even scream," sulked Joffrey.

"They would have torn her to pieces," the Hound replied, and Sansa felt his chest rising slightly and his warm breath at the crown of her hair. "Your mother wouldn't have been pleased to lose such an important hostage."

His tone was detached, his explanations for his, what Sansa supposed to be, worried reaction, sound. Anyone else would have a hard time objecting that this was an answer given with anything else than pure, solid, cold logic.

Sansa wasn't anyone else though. She was inches close to his face, and she could have sworn that there was more in his face than worry born out of duty.

She might have managed to get herself out of her predicament, but she was still extremely thankful for this almost intervention.

"This is not going to be any fun if you decide to be reasonnable about it!" pouted Joffrey.

He didn't seem that affected by his little torture plan's failure, probably already busy with his next cruel distraction.

"Bring her back to her quarters," he said with a wave of his hand in their direction, his head already looking somewhere else. "Maybe we could have some use of these... 'representatives' of the small folk."

Sansa did not need to linguer any longuer, as she did not feel the urge to learn what would happen to these so called 'Rats'. From what she understood, Joffrey had used them as a way to torment her and had now moved on to using them as well for his own sadistic urges.

She had been terrified the previous moment, but now she felt almost sorry for those men. Regardless of what they wanted, or could have done to her... No one deserved to be put through Joffrey. Especially when they weren't even remotely protected by their status.

It wasn't her status that made Sansa feel safe though.

She looked up to the grim expression of the Hound. His face was brewing more dark emotions than before. Had he truly been that worried for her? The idea made her heart slightly lighter. There was at least one person in this hell that would care a bit about what happenned to her.

They walked to her rooms - her prison - in silence. Sansa didn't have the words, yet she felt, just as she had before, the urge to thank him.

They arrived in sight of the door of her rooms.

"Thank you," Sansa said before they reached the door.

The words escaped her, timid, quick, like a small animal she reluctantely let out. He hadn't reacted so good to her thanking him in the past.

But she had to at least say something.

"What for? You seem to do pretty well on your own."

Sansa blinked at him.

"Yes, but you -"

How could she expressed how grateful she was that he at least tried to help her, something that no one else did?

"I was lucky to get out. And if I hadn't been... You would have been there."

He huffed.

"I was merely doing my duty and protecting the kingdoms' and my masters' best interests."

When had he last truly cared about that? Had he ever, really?

"I s-still wanted to thank you," she reaffirmed, regardless of his disarming attitude.

"You like giving out your pretty thanks. It is the third time since the Riot."

Sansa blushed. She had thought he wouldn't have heard her last night.

They had arrived in front of her door, and as before, Sansa found herself confused without any means to untangle this complicated mess of a temper he had. Why did he always refuse her thanks in such a manner, especially when his protests felt dishonest?

Dishonesty did not suit him.

"Here, you're back to your cage. Try not to lose any more feathers now."

He turned around before she had the time to add anything else.

She returned to her rooms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, you can pick whatever dialog option you prefer here, but chosing to thank him is necessary to get the "Lady's Armor" achievement. If you thanked Sandor at the beginning of the game but don't this time around, you'll get a bit more of dialog too.
> 
> ... I hope I planned all the paths of dialog correctly now that I think of it. Tell me if you find something that doesn't make any sense!


	11. Realizations

The following days proved to be interesting for Sansa, as she took time to think of the events that had followed the first strange dreams.

First, she realized that she moved as if she were awake when she dreamed.

This could on the one hand prove to be dangerous, as it meant she didn't always have a clear idea of where she could wander of while her mind wandered the dream world. On the other hand, it also meant she still moved even when she fell asleep in the middle of the day.

This brought her to the second point.

Second, she did not just sleep during the night anymore.

She found herself falling asleep at any point of the day, her consciousness slipping from one world to another. As long as she kept her wits about herself and remembered that dreams could not harm her, and that she had to remain calm... Things went mostly well.

Third, what she did in her dreams did not have an impact on the real world.

Her movements, as that embarrassing instance when she had tried to pet Sandor Clegane had shown, were somehow mirrored, but that was it. The dragon she had seen devouring the huntsman dressed in red had not, in fact, killed anyone, as she had been relieved to see once she woke up.

Fourth, her visions had meaning.

She couldn't always be completely sure what it was. But the rats with the key from her dream hed turned up in the real world the day that had followed. And he had warned her about signing her name - which had almost happened. That whole affair with Petyr Baelish - or rather, Petyr Baelish, was still a mystery to her, as she had been deep in visions when it had happened. Nowadays she mostly avoided the man though, distrustful of him. His forked tongue and glowing, greedy eyes only appeared in the dream world, but they were enough of a warning of his true character to her.

Fifth, she could easily switch from dreams to reality and reality to dream if she focused enough.

Applying what Shae had told her about realising you were in a dream had been extremly efficient to train herself at distinguishing the two worlds. To wake herself up, she simply had to pinch the inside of her arm painfully enough that she'd be waken at once. She eventually had to alternate between her two arms as one threatenned to bruise nastily, but she had been through much more painful thanks to Joffrey. This was a mere inconvenience.

Sansa still didn't know why exactly those dreams, visions and mysterious intuitions had started. She did feel that she could trust the information she gained from them though.

Which was why she was so curious about the recurring dream she had started to have.

The dream started simply enough.

She would be in her rooms, lying on her bed where she had fallen asleep.

Then, from the other side of the door, a voice would beckone her.

Now, Sansa knew better than to trust everything she heard or saw in the dream world at this point. The last time she had followed something calling to her, she had almost fallen to her death.

But there was something - her instinct - that told her to follow the voice.

And after three nights of hearing the call...

She finally did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clicking on each of the lines when Sansa is thinking over her weird dreaming powers will reveal the details that you can also read up there, but if you already played through the game you can just brush past it, since that's a lot of inner monologue that you don't necessarily want to reread on your third-playthrough.
> 
> Refusing to follow the voice repeatedly will lead you to end 4.


	12. Follow the Wind

It began with a whisper of the wind. But it was actually a call, like the ones she would heard back home, an echo to the moon.

She would get up from her bed, and open the door... And walk outside. The night in the dream world was as eerie as she could expect, clouds stretching like smoke in the sky, filtering the light to give it a sick shade reflecting on the stones.

Sansa had never ventured out so far in this dream, only listenning to the call of the wind in her room before, and she didn't know what to expect. Leaving her room meant that she had to be careful not to end up like she had before, at the top of a wall, about to fall to her death.

For now, she simply followed the wind...

The wind that called to her lead her ever further. As she turned around a corner, she stumbled on the sight of a familiar dog...

Sansa froze. This was the form under which she always saw the Hound when she dreamt, the one she had tried to pet the first time she had seen him. This could mean one of two things:

One, this dream of seemingly important significance was somehow linked to the Hound.

Two...

"Wandering ....nd again, Little B...rd?"

Sansa willed herself awake...

 

* * *

  

Sansa opened her eyes.

The green clouds-smokes faded out, revealing a clear black sky on which bright yellow stars shone. In front of her, looking completely human once again, stood the Hound.

"What are you doing out of your cage again? Were you trying to fly out the walls of the keep again?"

"I was in a dream. I needed to follow the wind."

"What is this nonsense? And of all the things to follow, do you think that to be your safest option? Isn't that what almost got you killed last time?"

"I am more careful now. I've gotten used to... To the dreams."

He might believe her to be crazy, but he had always valued honesty above all else. And if she couldn't tell him about it, then who?

His irritation seemed to turn into something much somber at her words.

"Dreams? You've had more of those?"

"Yes. I was trying to find out what this one was about. I think it is trying to warn me..."

"Warn you? Against what?"

The disbelief was clear in his voice.

"I haven't gotten far enough to figure it out. But... I've received warnings this way before. About the rats..."

She didn't need to elaborate for him to understand what she was referring to.

Silence stretched between them as he seemed to have fallen deep in thoughts.

"Do you think I am lying?" she asked, almost afraid of his answer.

Maybe she should have kept this to herself. Maybe -

"No, Little Bird, I don't think you're lying. But I do think I should bring you back to your room."

Sansa didn't protest, not when he seemed so deep in thoughts. And not when she knew the dream would come back the day that followed...

 

* * *

 

It began with a whisper of the wind. But it was actually a call, like the ones she would heard back home, an echo to the moon.

She would get up from her bed, and open the door... And walk outside. The night in the dream world was as eerie as she could expect, clouds stretching like smoke in the sky, filtering the light to give it a sick shade reflecting on the stones.

The wind that called to her lead her ever further. As she turned around a corner, she walked down a long corrido that seemed to stretch endlessly...

The walls of the corridor oozed with warmth. This was not the comforting warmth of the walls of Winterfell though... No, this wasn't even stone.

She risked approaching her hand to one side, before bringing it back to herself with disgust and horror. The walls were flesh! Squirming, bleeding flesh, distorting itself in pain, faces of men she didn't know sliding under the surface in silent screams.

The echo of swords clashing in the distance made her jump and look up to the sky, where the green smoke started to bleed into ashes.

Sansa wanted to wake up from this nightmare, but she knew there was still a clue she needed to find...

She continued walking down the corridor, the walls seemingly getting closer and closer, until her shoulders brushed against them.

She swallowed her fear, knowing she needed to be brave, knowing that this would be much worse than the rats and that she needed to be prepared...

As she thought she had reached her limit, a hand, so hot it felt like it was burning her, laid near her neck, almost choking her. She yelped as it forced her to turn around.

She saw a faceless figure, tall, and dark, its hood hiding a void with no end, and it spoke

_Dreamwalker, flee soon, when the sky is green and high is the moon_

_Trust the Knight of truth and show him ruth_

The walls closed on her, absorbing air, light, life, before she was jolted awake

Sansa was jolted awake, her breath short and her heart racing as she took into her surroundings. She was no longer in her nightmare; the sky was clear, the breeze on her skin no longer suffocated her and the stone was back to being solid.

It took her a few more moments to regain her ability to formulate a correct thought, too shocked by what she had just seen and heard.

'Dreamwalker'... She had been called that way by the rat before, hadn't she? And now, this being...

Had Sansa not known how ludicrous it could be to consider herself important enough to deserve such attention, she would have believed it was the Stranger itself. A deity that visited her to give her a message...

It wouldn't be any madder that what she had been trough as of late.

In all the horror she had seen in her nightmare, there had only been one small, beacon of hope, and it had been the entity's words. She thought back on them as she walked back to her rooms.

A Knight of truth...

The only person that came to her mind wasn't a knight, and would berate anyone making that mistake. But if she were to interpret this symbolically, as she had done for every other dream, then...

Sandor Clegane was the only true knight that she knew of.

 

* * *

 

It was shortly after that Sansa learned of the incoming attack of Stanis Baratheon on King's Landing.

She had no doubt this was what her dream had been warning her about. The living, suffering walls, had they been defences, built out of the soldiers that would die to protect the city.

And if she had to flee when the moon was high and the sky was green, did she need to wait for a specific night? How could she even escape?

All those questions tortured her in the days that came before the battle. As much as she wanted to find a way to speak to the Hound... To Sandor Clegane, he was never around, probably too busy with the preparations for the attack.

She understood that he was of great importance for the battle that would soon take place... So why did her dream seem to indicate that she would request his help to escape? Why would he even consider helping her? Which circumstances would lead to this?

Sansa had tried to find someone else that would fit the description of Knight of truth, but no knight of the Court, nor any other man was an option in her mind. Not in the Red Keep, the most important den of liars in the seven kingdoms.

When the day of the attack finally came, things unravelled in a blur she would have rather dreamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to add for the game ; pick the options you like best in discussing with Sandor, and read the story - there isn't much to influence here!


	13. Gentle Mother...

That morning, Sansa prayed before leaving her room, her mind buzzing with so much anxiousness that she struggled to remember the lyrics of a song she had known for years.

Sansa wasn't sure she had managed to remember the lyrics so well, but she was sure her intentions had been correctly conveyed.

She got summoned by the king, and kissed the blade he presented her, all the while wishing he would slip and kill himself with it.

She visited the septry, and honored every gods, paying an even closer attention to the Stranger.

She sang the same prayer that she had sung that morning at the septry, realising she had gotten some of the words wrong that morning.

Gentle Mother, font of mercy,  
save our sons from war, we pray,  
stay the swords and stay the arrows,  
let them know a better day.  
Gentle Mother, strength of women,  
help our daughters through this fray,  
soothe the wrath and tame the fury,  
teach us all a kinder way.

She joined the safety of Maegor's Holdfast, all the while wondering how she could possibly find a way to escape. For this was now, wasn't it? The terrible battle... But the moon wasn't high yet, nor was the sky green...

When Cersei offered her wine, she accepted, and Cersei repaid her compliance with the chilling truth about Ser Ilyn's presence with the ladies of the court. He wasn't there to guard them. He was there to kill them if they were at risk of being captured by Stannis.

This was a chilling truth that only made Sansa want to escape more.

When bad news came from the front, Sansa was the one to reassure those who were still in the room, Cersei having left without a thought for those placed under her protection here.

She was instructing the fool to distract the people with her, at first only wishing to avoid panic and distract them from their impending doom...

When she realized the opportunity it presented to her. Without Cersei around, or Ser Ilyn Payne, no one was paying attention to her.

She had to at least try to escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first test of your knowledge of the song is not a requirement for succeding in the game : Sansa will doubt her recollection if you get one of the lines wrong. You'll then get the correct text (whether you got it right or not). It will be useful later on.
> 
> Accepting and refusing Cersei's drink offer doesn't affect the ending either, it will simply affect the text displayed. To get the achievement "Lady's Armor" though, you'll have to accept it right away.
> 
> Then comes another tricky passage....


	14. Escape

As soon as Sansa was out of there, she was confronted with a nightmarish vision that she wished she couldn't be sure of the reality, but that she could not deny.

Through the window, the sky offered itself to her, an apocalyptic green-stained black landscape broken by large, angry red flames. The sound of the battle, sickeningly similar from buried memories she could recall from her dreams, carried on the wind with the acrid smell of smoke.

Death. This was what this was.

Sansa tore herself away from the window, heading towards the corridor. She didn't know where to go, almost lost in those endless corridors...

Her room. She would head for her rooms, and from there, she'd have a better idea of where to go. Maybe she could even use some things from there.

Sansa needed to be fast enough not to be noticed as she navigated the corridors. If she was noticed by someone... Then all would be lost.

Sansa walked on.

Sansa successfully sneaked around one last corner unnoticed before she was in sight of her room.

It was a small relief, when she didn't know what to do afterwards, but she was immensly relieved once she was finally safe - for the time being - behind her door. She slumped against it, allowing herself to breath a moment.

Now what?

Well, she could always start by gathering some things that might come in handy once she had left those walls. She didn't know how or where she'd go, but first, she had to look into what she could take with her...

When Sansa turned around though, she barely could make out a thing. Lights had been put out, and the window was covered by a curtain.

She headed towards it and pulled open the curtain...

When Sansa turned around though, she barely could make out a thing. Lights had been put out, and the window was covered by a curtain.

She headed towards it and pulled open the curtain, revealing once again the sky that seemed to pour green out of its wounds.

This time, she could take a clear look at her belongings and sort out -

A groan interrupted her train of thoughts.

Sansa turned around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, your decisions will be timed again when you try to find a way to your room! If the line indicates that a guard is nearby (stressed voice, the sound of a drawn sword, the glint of it, etc.) then you'll want to hide. If the text is free of danger, walk on. Proceed until you've reached the room safely.
> 
> If you get caught, there will be ANOTHER timed mini-game. Depending on the path before you, you'll have to run, jump or turn. If you fail to pick the right option, or if you don't pick it fast enough (5 seconds), you'll lose the mini-game. If you stumble on a chair but pick the option to get up fast enough, you might continue running.
> 
> You can get an achievement during this mini-game, if you jump in an empty corridor: The dancing bird. You'll also get a unique line (which totally does not make fun of you for jumping for no reason).
> 
> Failing the second mini-game will send you to ending 5.
> 
> You could, of course, avoid the second mini-game entirely if you find the time-travelling link to start over the first mini-game after failing it (it is the second opportunity to win the Achievement "Time Traveller").
> 
> Whew, lots of game mecanics to explain!


	15. ... Font of Mercy

Sansa turned around, coming face to face with a familiar face. A flash of green light briefly revealed him to her before he turned into a body of darkness once again.

It was Sandor Clegane. Why was he in her rooms?

The idea of being alone with a man in such an inapropriate place made her pulse race and her breath shortened.

His smelt of sweat, blood, but most of all, of alcohol. He tended to be more impredictable when he was drunk, and the fear came back stronger.

Sansa tried to bring herself to calm, thinking back on the numerous occasions Sandor Clegane could have hurt her, but ultimately did not. She would be safe, he wouldn't hurt her. At least, she hoped so.

And if her dreams were anything to go by...

"If you scream, I'll kill you," he promised, but Sansa had longed learned to put more faith into his action than his words, and he made no move towards her.

The only time she had been physically hurt by him was when he had brought her down from the top of the wall, when he had thought she was about to jump.

Despite her best efforts, her instincts were screaming still at her to run...

In her dreams, she was always calm, and in control. Maybe... But on the other hand, shouldn't she deal with this with a clear head?

Sansa steeled herself. She would face this with a clear head.

"You promised me a song, Little Bird."

"A-a song?"

At a time like this? But... Why?

Despite herself, the Stranger's Prophecy came back ringing in Sansa's ears. They would escape tonight, she thought. Somehow. She needed to trust he would bring her to freedom.

And Sansa wanted to trust him. Didn't she have every reason to? Out of all the people in this place, who else had earned it?

Sansa wracked her brain to remember Florian and Jonquill, but instead, only one song came to her mind, one that she had sung that very morning...

Gentle Mother, font of mercy  
save our sons from war, we pray,  
stay the swords and stay the arrows,  
let them know a better day.  
Gentle Mother, strength of women,  
help our daughters through this fray,  
soothe the wrath and tame the fury,  
teach us all a kinder way.

Sansa finished singing, her heart still hammering inside her chest. Was this... What he wanted?

Sansa looked up to him, to try and find his angry eyes in the darkness. A flash of green light filtered through the window, and she was sure that for a moment she saw tears on his face. Her suspicions were confirmed when he wiped his face, although it might have been because of the blood and mud that covered him from head to toes.

"Little Bird..." he whispered.

His voice had changed from steel something tender, fragile.

Sansa reached out...

 

* * *

 

That night, King's Landing forces managed to push back Stannis' attack, securing for a little longer the Lannister's hold on the capital.

This, arguably, wasn't the most important event that took place that night, as the Dreamwalker, accompanied by a loyal companion, fleed from the city, carrying with her a gift that would change the fate of their very world, as well as their own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulation if you've gone this far in the game!
> 
> To get the true ending, it doesn't matter if you decide that Sansa should stay awake or not. The only factor taken into account is if you remember all the lines of the song or not.
> 
> Thank you for reading/playing, I hope those of you that enjoyed playing a little less and decided to simply read the story still had a good time, despite the fact that I mostly wrote it with interactivity in mind, which might make some passages awkward.
> 
> Don't hesitate to comment on the story or to tell me what endings/achievements you got!  
> And go check out SassyEggs to whom this gift was made for, she has plenty of awesome fics to read!


End file.
